President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed once against any suggestion he was working for Russians or was under their influence as his nominee for attorney general, William Barr is expected to tell lawmakers he will allow special Counsel Robert Mueller to complete his probe into the Russian interference in 2016 elections.
“I never worked for Russia. Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it’s a disgrace that you even asked that question because it’s a whole big fat hoax,” Trump told reporters, and added that his meetings with Russian president Vladimir Putin were like the one-on-ones he has had with other world leaders.
A news report over the weekend said the FBI had launched an investigation against President Trump in the aftermath of his firing of then director James Comey to determine if he was working for Russians. Another report had said the American president goes to extraordinary extents to conceal details of his meetings with President Putin even from his own senior aides.
Questions about Russian interference in the 2016 elections to help Trump will have dogged the president’s presidency from even before he took office, and his meetings and calls with President Putin have also drawn close scrutiny.
Questions have also been raised about what Barr, the nominee for the post of attorney general, plans to do with Mueller’s probe, having been critical of it in the past, before getting the nomination. And lawmakers have worried he might shut it down, given how his boss, the president, feels about it. Trump has slammed it as a “witch-hunt”.
{{/usCountry}}Questions have also been raised about what Barr, the nominee for the post of attorney general, plans to do with Mueller’s probe, having been critical of it in the past, before getting the nomination. And lawmakers have worried he might shut it down, given how his boss, the president, feels about it. Trump has slammed it as a “witch-hunt”.
{{/usCountry}}“On my watch, Bob will be allowed to complete his work,” Barr said in prepared remarks ahead of two days of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee that is scheduled to start on Tuesday.
Barr, a former former attorney general to President George H.W. Bush, will face questions from lawmakers about his views that the Russia probe was “fatally misconceived”.